Fleeing vehicle hits state trooper in Deptford, four now in custody

View full sizeStaff photo by Lori M. NicholsA New Jersey State Police car is parked outside a house on Byrd Avenue in Deptford, where police tracked a man who allegedly hit a state trooper with his car Friday.

DEPTFORD TWP. — Four people have been arrested after a morning car chase left a state trooper hit by a car and reports of shots fired near the Deptford Mall.

At 9:30 a.m., emergency crews were called to Almonesson and Deptford Center road for a pedestrian-motor vehicle crash, and a dispatcher cautioned responders to stage away because shots had been fired. It was quickly added that it was a state trooper who’d been hit by a car.

A New Jersey State Police spokesman said the incident had started near mile marker 44 on Route 55 in Clayton. It now appears a state trooper was able to pull the car over at Almonesson and Deptford Center roads and that three of the car’s four occupants got out of the car.

The spokesman said the driver sped away, striking the trooper, who was not seriously injured.

A second trooper followed the fleeing car to a spot behind BJ’s Wholesale Club on Deptford Center Road, he said.

The spokesman has not confirmed that shots were fired and is attempting to get more information about what transpired behind the BJ’s store. State troopers were able to track the fleeing car to the 1000 block of Byrd Avenue in Deptford. The house is surrounded by yellow police tape and NJSP cars are parked outside.